Update from the board of the Association of Latino Faculty, Staff and Students:

Hello campus community,
 
The Association of Latino Faculty, Staff and Students will unfortunately be canceling our Dia de los Muertos celebration this weekend.

Due to the campus closures and effect to the San Bernardino area – the event will not take place.

We would like to thank all of the volunteers, vendors and efforts put into this annual event.
 
We apologize for any inconvenience!
 
Sincerely,
 
2019-20 ALFSS Board

'Día de los Muertos” or Day of the Dead, a long-celebrated holiday in Mexican, Latino cultures and pre-Hispanic indigenous cultures to honor the lives of loved ones, will be held at Cal State San Bernardino on Saturday, Nov. 2.
 
The celebration, part of the university’s Native American Heritage month-long celebration, will feature ethnic food, music, student clubs, vendors, food, games, activities, a photo booth and a community altar built by the university’s Acto Latino Theater Group.
 
The event, which will include performances by the Rialto High School Ballet Folklorico Cultural and Aztec Dancers, will be 9 a.m.-3 p.m. in the university’s lower Meeting Center (formerly known as the Commons) and is open to the public. Complimentary parking will be in Lot D, located off Northpark Boulevard and Serrano Village Drive.
 
The Day of the Dead festivities kicks off the university’s Native American Heritage Month celebrations and is sponsored by the CSUSB Association of Latino Faculty, Staff and Students, The LatinX Center, Liberal Studies, Undergraduate Studies and the Latino Education and Advocacy Days project.
 
According to the National Geographic travel website, Day of the Dead originated several thousand years ago with the Aztec, Toltec, and other Nahua people who considered mourning the dead disrespectful. For these pre-Hispanic cultures, death was a natural phase in life’s long continuum. The dead were still members of the community, kept alive in memory and spirit — and during Día de los Muertos, they temporarily returned to Earth.
 
Today’s Día de los Muertos celebration is a mash-up of pre-Hispanic religious rites and Christian feasts. It takes place on Nov. 1 and 2 — All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day on the Catholic calendar — around the time of the fall maize harvest.
 
During Day of the Dead, families create ofrendas (offerings) to honor their departed family members who have passed. These altars are decorated with bright yellow marigold flowers, photos of the departed and the favorite foods and drinks of the one being honored. The offerings are believed to encourage visits from the land of the dead as the departed souls hear their prayers, smell their foods and join in the celebrations.
 
Day of the Dead is sometimes mistaken as the “Mexican Halloween” because of the timing of the year. The two holidays did originate with similar afterlife beliefs, but are very different in modern times. Halloween began as a Celtic festival where people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts, but has recently turned into a tradition of costume wearing and trick-or-treating, according to a Day of the Dead website.
 
For more information, contact the CSUSB Association of Latino Faculty, Staff and Students.